New Political Leadership, Plus Ça Change? State-Civil Society Relations in Central Asia

Civil society organisations have the potential to play an important role in challenging government in authoritarian regimes. The state, on the other hand, can react through repressive measures or use civil society to legitimise and consolidate the status quo. This article examines civil society in two Central Asian authoritarian regimes, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, following changes in political leadership. Using data gathered from a range of stakeholders including civil society representatives, international donors and independent mass media, we find that under new political leadership Kyrgyzstan has become overtly much more repressive towards civil society. Kazakhstan, on the other hand, has softened its external appearance towards civil society but has an underbelly of persecution. A change in political leadership within authoritarian Central Asia radically changed state-civil society relations.